How To Format A Write-Protected USB Drive

There are times when Windows doesn’t want to format a USB drive. You might get an error saying the drive is write-protected, or you’ll get an error saying it just can’t format it. Sometimes you’ll be able to see the drive but the size available for you to format is incorrect. You have a few options you can try to regain full access to your USB drive. There are some free third party tools you can download and install, but you should be able to do it using the tools built into Windows.

Format With DiskPart

The first step requires a command prompt opened as Administrator. Then you’ll run these commands similar to the screenshot above. DISCLAIMER: Double check the drive you select! Selecting the wrong one could format your computer.

Open Command Prompt with Administrative rights

Type diskpart

Type list disk

Identify which one is your USB disk

Type SELECT DISK n where n is the number of your USB disk

Type clean (you may need to repeat twice). If it doesn’t work, don’t proceed with the next instruction.

Type create partition primary

Type select partition

Type active

Type format fs=ntfs

Depending on the size of the USB drive, the last step could take a while. You could add the quick flag to the end of the command to speed things up.

Change WriteProtect Registry Key

Open Start Menu

Click Run and type regedit

Navigate to the following path:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies

Double click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 In the Value Data Box. Press OK